Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

I really enjoyed reading this article. It brought me back to my childhood. I'm a kid of the 80's, and I distinctively remember getting a Sony Walkman for Christmas. I would guess it was around 1984 or 1985. This was the coolest new gadget of the 80's. Before the Walkman, everyone walked around with their boomboxes. That actually reminds me of an interesting piece I heard on NPR about the boombox. I have posted a link to the article if you are interested in checking it out: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103363836

I found this retro Walkman commercial on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO8FDPtN_8M&feature=related

I think mine must have been somewhere in between this "new and improved" Walkman and the big one the article describes. I don't remember having a battery life problem, but I do remember it eating a tape or two. A fond memory the article reminded me of was all the great mixed tapes my friends and I use to make. We used the 120 minute tapes for maximum playtime. It was so great making these mixes and exchanging them with friends to share the coolest new music we had discovered.

One comment I found humorous in the article was that the boy, Scott Campbell, rejoiced that he was not brought up in this decade. I'm sure I would have felt the same way when I was his age, but now I can appreciate the technology of that time. Don't get me wrong. I love my iPhone and iPod. The first one I obtained was the 40 gig iPod. I was so thrilled to be able to store my entire music collection on it and take it with me everywhere. I would never want to go back to a Walkman, but I do love reminiscing at the memories this old iconic music player brought back to me.